Rod Liddle demands a ‘grovelling apology’ from Durham University
Rod Liddle demands a ‘grovelling apology’ from Durham University for its ‘despicable’ treatment’ of professor who was targeted by woke students after inviting him to speak
Rod Liddle said Durham should give ‘grovelling apology’ to Prof Tim LuckhurstThe columnist also called for bosses to say sorry to him for ‘vilifying’ his speechIt comes as small group of Left-wing students staged a protest at South CollegeThe activists gathered on a green with placards saying ‘we’re queer, we’re here’
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Rod Liddle has slammed Durham University for its ‘despicable’ treatment of a leading academic after he invited the journalist to a talk.
The columnist said the institution should issue a ‘grovelling apology’ to Professor Tim Luckhurst and ‘reinstate him immediately to all his duties’.
He also called for bosses to say sorry to him for ‘vilifying’ his speech to ‘appease jabbering infants’ and said they should reimburse his £150 travel expenses.
It comes as a group of Left-wing students staged a protest at South College calling for the professor to apologise for his wife’s comments to them or quit.
The baying activists gathered on a green with placards reading ‘mansplain, manipulate, manwife’ and ‘we’re queer, we’re here’.
Professor Luckhurst had angered them by shouting ‘pathetic’ when students staged a walk-out during Mr Liddle’s talk on Friday – although he later apologised.
He has now been placed under investigation by the university and is barred from duties following the furore. It is understood he is gagged while the case is live.
A small group of Left-wing students staged a protest at South College calling for what they deem a ‘safer, more inclusive’ campus
The activists gathered on a green with placards reading ‘mansplain, manipulate, manwife’ and ‘we’re queer, we’re here’
A small number of student activists marched on South College today in their latest attempt to get the professor sacked
Mr Liddle leapt to his friend’s aid this morning, blasting Durham for ‘scapegoating’ the academic, who is the head of the newly established South College.
He said he expected that sort of behaviour from the students but was surprised by the universty’s response.
He told GB News: ‘Let’s start with what Durham University should do. They’ve behaved despicably, far worse than the students have behaved.
‘I expected that from the students, I expected that from some of them. What you don’t expect is the kind of double think which Durham University has indulged in.
‘Firstly by saying that they agree with freedom of speech, then by saying except if it’s something we don’t agree with, which the Labour Party on campus doesn’t agree with, then they don’t agree with it.
‘Then most importantly of all you might argue, scapegoating poor Tim Luckhurst who asked me to come along in good faith having cleared it with the university authorities having told them what was happening in advance.
‘They have now decided because they’ve got to appease these jabbering infants they’ve decided they’ve got to do something and so a hugely distinguished, reputable and incredibly competent journalist and professor is left hanging out to dry.
‘And so what they should do now, immediately, is number one, decide whether they believe in free speech or not.
‘Number two, write a grovelling apology to Professor Luckhurst, reinstating him immediately to all his duties, and call off this fatuous investigation…
‘And accept that he invited me here in good faith.
‘And thirdly, what they should do after that is write me a letter of apology and explain to me they were wrong to have vilified me in their comments about this whole affair and they might be better off in future rather than teaching extra courses to their students in how to become prostitutes, a course in good manners might not come amiss.
‘And they can also forward me 150 quid for my travel expenses because I came there free of charge with a wish to do the right thing to give something to public service, all that palaver.’
He added: ‘So they can apologise and reimburse my travel expenses and after that, I’ll be happy.’
Mr Liddle leapt to his friend’s aid this morning, blasting Durham for ‘scapegoating’ the academic, who is the head of the newly-established South College
The youngsters carried flags and banners with messages such as ‘sod Rod’, ‘proud to be pathetic’ and ‘no hate’
The ‘woke’ mob had ramped up its campaign to oust Professor Luckhurst last night as seven societies accused him of ‘gross misconduct’
A speaker talks to Durham University students as they stage a protest at South College this afternoon
They claimed he promoted ‘a culture of harm and hate’ by inviting Mr Liddle to give his speech
A small number of student activists marched on South College today in their latest attempt to get the professor sacked.
The youngsters carried flags and banners with messages such as ‘sod Rod’, ‘proud to be pathetic’ and ‘no hate’.
The ‘woke’ mob had ramped up its campaign to oust Professor Luckhurst last night as seven societies accused him of ‘gross misconduct’.
They claimed he promoted ‘a culture of harm and hate’ by inviting Mr Liddle to give his speech.
The groups claimed the incident, at a formal dinner on Friday, made them feel ‘unsafe’ and ‘distressed’.
They claimed it breached the Equality Act and demanded ‘disciplinary regulations’ be brought to bear on the professor – who has been gagged from commenting.
The groups claimed the incident, at a formal dinner on Friday, made them feel ‘unsafe’ and ‘distressed’
They claimed it breached the Equality Act and demanded ‘disciplinary regulations’ be brought to bear on the professor – who has been gagged from commenting
Durham University students stand with their banners as they stage a protest at South College this afternoon
Yesterday footage emerged of Professor Luckhurst and his wife Dorothy talking to students who stormed out of the speech after the event.
They were speaking to them calmly and appeared to be helping them understand universities are supposed to be bastions of free speech.
The youths stood with their mouths wide open as Professor Luckhurst spoke before his wife interrupted her husband.
She asked: ‘What are you frightened of you silly… what are you frightened of?’ One of the students squealed back: ‘What do you mean?’
The rest of their exchange was inaudible but Mrs Luckhurst went on to repeat the word ‘a***’ before another asked: ‘Don’t we all have one?’
She tweeted later that night: ‘Bunch of inadequates thought it was clever to walk out on a speech tonight because they were afraid of what the speaker said…’
She added: ‘Incidentally they thought it was ok to ask my husband to apologise for my comments…
‘I know it’s an old notion but I can speak for myself. Maybe the woke generation haven’t heard of women’s equality.’
Footage emerged of the professor and his wife Dorothy talking to ‘woke’ students who stormed out of the speech on Friday night
Professor Luckhurst tried to calm the students who gawped at him as he educated them on free speech at universities
A friend of the professor said: ‘Tim is one of the most decent, kindly and intelligent people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. He’s really being victimised here.’
The Free Speech Union said: ‘The vilification and abuse of Professor Luckhurst for inviting Rod Liddle to give an after-dinner speech is an absolute disgrace.
‘If students cannot cope with hearing opinions they find disagreeable they shouldn’t be at university.
‘Durham says it believes in upholding academic free speech, but if so why has it placed Professor Luckhurst under investigation for describing the decision of students to walk out of the speech as ‘pathetic’?
‘In expressing that perfectly lawful view, Professor Luckhurst was exercising his right to free speech and penalising him for doing so could well be a breach of the law that requires universities to uphold free speech on campus.
‘Professor Luckhurst is a member of the Free Speech Union and we are supporting him in full.’
The five officers penned a rambling statement in a bid to oust South College principal Professor Tim Luckhurst (pictured)
Seun Twins, Jack Ballingham, Jonah Graham, Declan Merrington and Charlie Procter claimed hosting one of the UK’s best known writers (pictured) was an ‘abuse of power’
The societies signing the statement were those representing ‘mature students’; ‘working class students’; ‘LGBT+’; ‘students with disabilities’; ‘international students’; ‘people of colour’; and ‘womxn’ – a word activists use for females which includes trans women.
It laid out a list of ‘demands’, saying: ‘Under Durham University’s Disciplinary Regulations… we believe these actions constitute gross misconduct.’
They also demanded a ‘formal investigation’ into Professor Luckhurst’s ‘neglect of duty of care to students’ and ‘his verbal condemnation of students.’
And they said all future speeches should have ‘content warnings’ for potentially offensive material.
The statement added: ‘By platforming Rod Liddle, Tim Luckhurst is promoting a culture of harm and hate towards disabled, LGBTQ+, POC [people of colour], and working-class students being normalised…
‘These actions have resulted in students feeling unsafe to attend formals at their college.’
Meanwhile, the Durham students’ union (SU) separately called for the professor to be sacked, calling his position ‘untenable’.
Seun Twins, Jack Ballingham, Jonah Graham, Declan Merrington and Charlie Procter claimed hosting one of the UK’s best known writers was an ‘abuse of power’.
Ms Twins has previously written of her hatred of the Tories, calling for them to be ‘dealt with’.
They wrote: ‘The Principal of South College has insulted and humiliated the student members of the College.
‘Tim Luckhurst, the former editor of a national newspaper, knew exactly what he was doing when he hijacked a Christmas party and allowed his personal friend to spout vile propaganda he knew would cause division.
‘His shameful attempt to excuse this pantomime by pretending it was for the benefit of students’ education is disgraceful.
‘He has failed in his duty of care as Principal to South College students, and as a leader in our University community.’
Durham Students’ Union (pictured, two of its five officers) has been blasted for demanding a leading academic resign after he invited journalist Rod Liddle to talk at a dinner party
The Free Speech Union slammed the five officers (pictured, two of them) who penned a rambling statement in a bid to oust South College principal Professor Tim Luckhurst
Seun Twins, Jack Ballingham, Jonah Graham, Declan Merrington and Charlie Procter (pictured) claimed hosting one of the UK’s best known writers was an ‘abuse of power’
During his appearance, Mr Liddle said the Left were ignoring science when it came to trans issues and said Colonialism was not the main cause of Africa’s problems.
He also said the under-performance of pupils of Caribbean descent was not mainly due to institutional racism.
Later, he told the Daily Mail these are mainstream views held by many academics and government experts.
He added: ‘I’m not racist and I’m not transphobic. I want a world where transgender people can live in happiness, dignity and equality. I loathe racism.’
He added the main point of his talk was to ‘have tolerance of other opinions and doubt in our own opinions’.
Professor Luckhurst later emailed students to apologise for using the word ‘pathetic’ but defended his right to invite Liddle and said he was in favour of ‘free speech’.
But the university announced an investigation, saying it was ‘concerned at reports the behaviours exhibited at the occasion fall short of those that we expect.’
The university has refused to comment further. Professor Luckhurst has not been allowed to comment.
Revealed: Tory-hating ex-head girl behind Durham University protests launched ‘culture commission’ to ‘deconstruct toxicity’ on campus
Seun Twins was behind campaign to oust Durham Uni Professor Tim LuckhurstCame after he branded walkout in Rod Liddle speech by woke students ‘pathetic’Twins has launched a ‘culture commission’ to ‘locate and deconstruct toxicity’ at her universityShe has previously hailed ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as ‘the white king’
The left-wing student leader behind a campaign to oust Professor Tim Luckhurst described Jeremy Corbyn as ‘the white king’ and suggested Tories should be ‘dealt with’.
Seun Twins has said the union’s objective is ‘unravelling the unfair power dynamics which permeate into a culture of privilege’ at the university.
She has launched a ‘culture commission’ to ‘explore and locate and ultimately deconstruct toxicity at Durham’.
Seun Twins, the left-wing student leader behind a campaign to oust a Durham University lecturer, has previously described Jeremy Corbyn as ‘the white king’ and suggested Tories should be ‘dealt with’
After she was elected, Miss Twins called for Tories to be ‘dealt with’ by ‘roadmen’ in a leaked post from her private Instagram account.
Roadman is a slang term defined as a young person who spends ‘a lot of time on the streets in a group, and who may be involved in selling drugs’, according to Collins dictionary.
She wrote: ‘I don’t condone violence in the slightest, but sometimes when you are in the presence of such grotesque entitlement, do you ever just want to say ‘We need to take these tories to South London and let roadmen deal with them’ but you realise that you have to be the palatable and charismatic black girl since you are going to be their president for the next year and you must to smile and wave.’ [sic]
Miss Twins has said the union’s objective is ‘unravelling the unfair power dynamics which permeate into a culture of privilege’ at the university. It comes after Professor Tim Luckhurst (pictured), principal of Durham’s South College, branded a walkout by woke students ‘pathetic’ and is now facing investigation
The students staged a walkout during a speech by right-wing journalist Rod Liddle (pictured)
She later insisted the post was in response to a specific incident of bullying and was an expression of the way she felt she had to present herself ‘because of racism and sexism’.
Now in her second year as Durham Students’ Union president, Miss Twins has made no secret of where her political affiliations lie.
She has previously hailed former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as ‘the white king’.
Miss Twins, a former head girl at Camden School for Girls, a comprehensive in North London, became student union president after taking senior roles in the Durham People Of Colour Association and the Intersectional Feminism Society.
